


waking memory

by fishydwarrows



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M, Memory Magic, One Shot, Supernatural Elements, Twitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 20:38:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19180957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishydwarrows/pseuds/fishydwarrows
Summary: Connor wakes up every night with dirt on his feet and a name on his lips. Yet he never his dreams.





	waking memory

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a Twitter thread but I threw it in a word doc and now it's here! 
> 
> Uhh also my Twitter is @wow__then usually but I got put in gay baby jail for putting my birthday in my profile so please find me @wow__thenn 
> 
> Please enjoy!

Connor wakes up at one every night. The sky is always black, the air is always cold. He never remembers his dreams. Instead his feet are encrusted in dirt, his gut aching with hunger, and a name on the tip of his tongue. He - ....he never remembers his dreams.

 

If he could remember his dreams...well. It would be something like this: cold tiles, tall ceilings, the resonate sound of a bass and violin in harmony. Beautiful people twisting and turning and elegant food, always sweet and quenching. And waiting by a grand piano: him.

 

The first night Connor arrived - in his pajamas, cold, confused - he noticed him. Tall, hair a curtain about his face, grey beard, and sharp clear eyes.

 

Singled out in the crowd, Connor had flushed in the low light.

 

Connor had approached him with an outstretched hand, a facsimile of calm and introduced himself. The man had raised an eyebrow and shook.

 

"Hank," the man had said, "Welcome to the ball."

 

"I feel a little underdressed," Connor laughed nervously. "Do you know what this place is?"

 

"Let me help you with that" Hank had said. Connor had felt the wind (but the air was still) and the sun (but the air was cold). He had looked down and found himself in a suit, closer to the styles of the crowd, and not his pajamas. No clue where those went...where Hank sent them.

 

"What" Connor had put elegantly. And Hank had laughed and oh, that was a nice sound.

 

He was determined to hear it again.

 

"Can we dance?" Connor had said, "this is a ball, right?"

 

Hank had smiled and agreed.

 

So it continued over and over again. Connor appears at the ball, reunites with Hank, feasts, dances, savors his time. Connor has never before lucid dreamed, but every instance there in that world is so fantastic, so strange that he can't comprehend another option.

 

Now that's Connor there.

 

Connor here is all the difference.

 

He's a librarian. Mostly he haunts the reference desk and keeps a benevolent watch over the printers in the back room. It's what he'd always wanted to do, there's an order and an escape in organizing books.

 

But Connor has always loved reading fantasy. If just one fantastical thing were to happen - just one. He'd feel satisfied.

 

But Connor doesn't remember his dreams.

 

Just because he doesn't remember them doesn't mean he stops dreaming. He starts getting to know Hank - Lord Henry apparently - and his son, Cole. The boy is... familiar...like a smell from childhood or a favorite color you used to have but forgot.

 

And he continues his days, unaware of his dreams.

 

One day his brother Niles comes into town and suggests they go hiking; see the local flora, take some cool photos for his portfolio something something - Connor says sure.

 

So they're hiking and Connor kinda hates it? But it's bonding time so he's not going to object. And at some point Niles decides to go off on his own - photos of some rare squirrel or something - and he tells Connor to keep hiking, he'll catch up later.

 

So Connor continues less confidently. He was never in boy scouts and he is an indoor animal thank you very much. Needless to say he gets lost pretty quickly. How he got off the path? Good question! He's not sure. But he's lost which is .... fun....

 

And soon he stumbles into a ring of willow trees which is weird because they're definitely not native where he lives. And in the tree circle is a circle of mushrooms and within that circle of mushrooms is a circle of small smooth stones. He marvels a bit at the natural beauty and chuckles to himself. If he were a book character this would be the part where he disappears into a magical world. Just for fun he steps through the circles, his foot just grazing the mushrooms.

 

He steps out of the circle but everything's the same.

 

Connor feels a small pang of disappointment - which is silly. Nothing's magical that isn't practical and if magic were real it wouldn't have anything to do with him.

 

So he makes his way entirely out of the circle. He's totally lost now though. Connor sighs and pulls out his phone fully intending to make Niles rescue him while he waits with some books he brought.

 

However there's no signal.

 

Very weird, really weird actually because Connor (regretfully) has walked this trail before and he knows there's a phone tower a couple miles away.

 

He tries a couple times and sighs.

 

There goes his outside reading time.

 

More hiking. Yay.

 

Connor pockets his phone and glances around. If he goes back the way he came he should find the path, right? Right.

 

He keeps walking and...the trees look familiar but... they're definitely not the trees from the path. He doesn't - He has no clue why he recognizes them, why he feels anticipatory as he walks closer and closer to... something.

 

He finds a path. It's definitely not his path. It's cobble stone and smooth and he trips a little on his sneakers. He can feel it though, the path is leading him to something - metaphorically, literally, whatever.

 

At last the forest breaks and he finds himself at the steps of a castle. What The Fuck.

 

Inside there are lights shining and he can definitely hear music.

 

Connor swallows.

 

He could wait outside and just...hope Niles finds him.

 

However Connor may love fantasy, he's a realist.. And Niles has only slightly better orienteering skills than him so he knows he's on his own.

 

He agonizes in front of the castle for a bit, pacing and weighing his options.

 

Finally, he sighs. Something tells him that he'll be alright. Some gut feeling.

 

Connor walks up to the great oak doors and hopes whoever lives here has a phone.

 

The inside is...lavish, decadent...god, it's just really fancy. The last time Connor was in a place this... exorbitant was ...never. Yep. Never.

 

So obviously he's just gawking at everything and because of that he almost faceplants after running into and tripping on A Child.

 

"Shit!" He cries. "Shoot!" He corrects himself lamely. From the ground, folded over himself and half upside down he says "Uhhh. Sorry for trespassing?"

 

"Are you okay?" The kid asks, extending a small hand.

 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm-" He begins when a pain in his ankle darts up his leg.

 

"I'm... marginally okay....maybe..." Connor says, prodding his foot. "Maybe okay? Sorta? Not really? ...not really....yeah uh...Not really."

 

The little boy, who's blond and dressed like an extra in Pride and Prejudice or something, frowns.

 

"You should see Dad. He can help. He'll want to see you anyway"

 

"Your dad? Uh, okay." Connor winces as he stands. "Do you...have a phone?"

 

"Follow me, Connor!" The kid says.

 

And Connor feels that same confusion and familiarity.

 

He follows carefully and is so distracted that he doesn't realize he never gave his name.

 

The kid leads him into a huge room. Like huge. There's a piano and a string quartet and candelabras and a terrace and giant drapes over giant windows. It looks like a set straight from Marie Antoinette yet twice as ethereal. It's... magical.

 

Connor pinches himself.

 

"You, uh, live here? With your dad?" He says, staring at the stained glass ceiling.

 

"Uh huh! And my cousins and aunts and uncles too!" The kid smiles.

 

He tugs at Connor's t-shirt, "My dad's through there" The boy points past the grand piano.

 

"Oh! Thanks, Cole" Connor says, the name unbidden and unknown on his lips.

 

Connor blinks. Wait.

 

"Wait, Cole-?"

 

But the kid is gone.

 

He walks forward but hesitates at the door. This whole place is strangely familiar. Almost like...well, almost like a dream. But Connor knows he's awake and...he doesn't remember his dreams.

 

He shakes his head.

 

This is silly.

 

He's just gonna ask that kid's dad for some help, there's no reason to feel so anticipatory, like he's waited months or maybe years for this moment.

 

Walking through the door, he sees the man. He's older, tall, and dressed similarly to the boy from before.

 

He turns and their eyes meet.

 

For Connor, time seems to slow.

 

In his dreams - his first dream - they had danced.

 

Hours in Connor had taken off his shoes and ran with him into the forest.

 

They had danced then too: slowly, pressed together under the moonlight.

 

And his dreams, they continued. He knew he was dreaming.

 

He had to be.

 

No man could exist in the real world.

 

His hair soft. His beard coarse. His voice a deep timber. His eyes so clear and blue.

 

Did you know slow dancing leaves plenty of time for conversation?

 

They would talk for hours. Of all sorts of things: Connor's job, books, the seasons, fantasy, reality, science and myth.

 

So it continued and continued and continued.

 

And both fell in love.

 

But this is Connor now:

 

He startles at those blue eyes and the man's name comes known and unbidden from deep within.

 

"Hank" He breathes.

 

And like a dam being broken or a wall being torn down, the memory of what they were rushes to him.

 

"Hank." Connor says, surer this time.

 

"Connor," Hank says, confused, pleased, "How did you get here?"

 

"I," he begins. And he could talk about getting lost, about hurting himself, being alone in the forest, and feeling alone. But what comes out instead is only: "I was searching for you."

 

And it's the truth, isn't it?

 

Hank had always been there. In his dreams, his idle thoughts. A great big shadow of something, strong and tall, and just out of reach.

 

Hank's eyes widen but he smiles just wide enough to see the gap in his teeth.

 

"Guess you found me."

 

"Guess I did," Connor says, and smiles back.

 

And he moves forward then, and even though his ankle throbs and he's exhausted, the comfort he feels when Hank meets his embrace is more than enough to make up for the rest.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment!


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